Project ClimateLearn Blog

By SinmilOluwa Okunade   “What’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” —Henry David Thoreau The year is 2021, you have just come out of hiding and now have access to the internet. Amongst the many things the netizens are raving about, climate change seems to be a regular. You see ads mention eco-friendly , and save the planet campaigns are a thing. The colour green is being used to describe gases and energy, things that did not have colours before you went into hiding. Well, Welcome back! Let us start with the international headliner: Climate Change . This phenomenon that nearly everyone seems to be (rightly) agitating about is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define the Earth's local, regional, and global climates. Simply put, it is a change in the normal weather patterns of a place over a long period. Let’s say your hometown is Wasinmi, in Ogun State Nigeria, and the harmattan season usually starts...

  On some days, I sit back and try to imagine what the Earth was like many years ago- with little or no technology, dense forests, crude tools, minimal carbon emissions, and simple lives. I would not necessarily choose that life over my current one, but if I could take anything from it, it would be the clean, fresh air they breathed then. As someone who has lived most of his life in the Lagos metropolis, I have come to relish the clean air that greets me whenever I visit less populated areas. Familar surroundings of Lagos, Nigeria  SOURCE: techpoint.africa This article does not aim to compare city life to rural life but to highlight the need to take individual action to tackle climate change. If you are reading this, then you are probably using the internet, so it is safe to assume that you have at some point heard about climate change and its effects on life as we know it. While most of the world’s internet-serviced population has heard about climate change, whether or not ...

A trader of thrift clothes, also known as Okrika, in Nigeria at his business. SOURCE: The GuardianNg In the year 2018, the fashion industry was responsible for more greenhouse emissions than the combined economies of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Data from the United Nations Environment Programme also show that the fashion industry is responsible for more emissions than international flights and water transportation combined, highlighting the need for sustainable fashion practices.  The fashion industry impacts the climate in a number of ways briefly detailed below.  How fashion drives climate change The process of producing and transporting clothes to the end-user consumes a lot of energy, most of which is gotten from burning fossil fuels. This leads to the release of greenhouse gases that warm the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.  The most common material used in making clothes is a form of plastic called polyester. It is durable and easy to cle...

 By:  Víctor Hugo Hernández-Elizárraga ¹ The oceans are an amazing part of the planet Earth. They support a wealth of marine wildlife, but unfortunately, they are being impacted by anthropogenic climate change. The increasing greenhouse gas emissions are challenging marine ecosystems that are already stressed by overfishing, land-use change, environmental pollution, and human development. Climate alterations are affecting a wide variety of marine species such as fish, polar bears, sea lions, seabirds, penguins, plankton, and corals. One of the ecosystems most affected by accelerated anthropogenic climate disturbances are coral reefs. For thousands of years, coral reefs all over the world have offered support to humans, and today they continue to be essential for our survival. Despite constituting only 0.1% of the ocean surface, coral reef structures are unique ecoregions that provide diverse benefits to the earth’s population. These ecosystems represent an important source of ...